Careers

Description:

Public Health Seattle & King County’s Pathways Program at Downtown Public Health Center is looking for two (2) individuals who bring experience working with adults with opioid use disorder (OUD), complex social, medical, and mental health conditions and experiencing homelessness, providing care using a harm reduction approach to the position of Education Specialist (Community Health Worker). The community health workers will greet patients entering our building and coordinate with multiple programs at the Downtown Public Health Center and community partners and will be instrumental in individuals’ linkage to services and assisting with ongoing MOUD service and behavioral health care. They will perform outreach and engagement activities, and provide support to patients, as well as supporting other team members as needed. They will be responsible for providing program information and details to clients and community partners, as well as gathering and reporting data. The Education Specialist will provide health education related to OUD, injection drug use, homelessness, and other disease risk factors. 

Job Duties

 

• Greets individuals searching for services at Downtown Public Health Center and connects them to appropriate program and community resources.
• Conducts outreach and connects with patients in clinic to provide linkage to community resources.
• Conducts community outreach to connect with outside organizations for referrals and patient resources.
• Acts as a patient liaison between Pathways clinic and other programs within Seattle and King County Public Health.
• Provides individualized harm reduction counseling to help initiate and maintain behavior change to reduce risk of opioid overdose, death, and other drug use related harms.
• Creates and maintains education and resources handouts for patients and for interdisciplinary team.
• Facilitates referral and enrollment of Pathways patients to other Public Health programs and outside organizations.
• Coordinate and follow up on referrals to housing and other services that affect overall health and risk of overdose.
• Develops and maintains expert knowledge of Medicaid, other health insurance coverage and public funding options for MOUD, other substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and health care services.
• Lift and moves boxes of supplies and equipment weighing up to 25 pounds in the workplace areas on occasion.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills/Eligibility:

Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills

 

Our ideal candidate will demonstrate the following (Minimum):

• Demonstrated knowledge of theories and practices related to health promotion.
• Prior experience, which can be from work or personal lived experience with substance use, substance use disorder, people experiencing homelessness and/or other vulnerable populations.
• Demonstrated excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate complex information in a culturally appropriate, consistently respectful, and non-judgmental manner to people.
• Skill and comfort making cold contacts to engage potential new patients in outreach settings.
• Demonstrated skill to set and maintain clear, professional, respectful boundaries and interactions with clients and fellow staff members.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently following established protocols and policies, and ability to take initiative and be motivated to engage with patients and community.
• Ability to lift and move boxes of supplies and equipment weighing up to 25 pounds occasionally.

 

The most competitive applicants will have the following experiences and qualifications (Desired):

• Demonstrated skill in using the electronic health record, EPIC.
• Demonstrated skill in delivering harm reduction interventions to people who use drugs.
• Demonstrated current knowledge of: MOUD, harm reduction concepts and principles; and local SUD treatment, health care and criminal justice systems and resources.
• Valid Washington state driver’s license.
• Ability to use de-escalation skills.
• Lived experience with drug use, substance use disorder, and or homelessness.